Tales from the Wasteland
by Shintou01
Summary: A collection of prompt-inspired short stories focused on the individual journeys of a Lone Wanderer during the events of Fallout 3 and a Courier during the events of Fallout New Vegas. Chapters designated as "Kelly" are Lone Wanderer stories and chapters designated as "Harper" are Courier stories. Stories are not posted chronologically, but in the order of when they are written.
1. Kelly - Loss

"The hell's wrong with her?"

"Don't know, but she needs to get over it. We need to strike the Enclave while we can before we lose any more of our people."

From inside the room, Kelly curled up tighter on the grime-covered bed and had to resist the urge to start rocking herself like a damn child.

"How do we even know that we can still trust her? I mean, she claims that Raven Rock's destroyed, but we haven't even been able to get any people out there to confirm it. She could be lying as far as we know."

Kelly bit down on her lip at that. She wanted to scream at them that the Enclave was the reason that her dad was dead…and why Dogmeat was now dead too. Why _would_ she even consider working with the Enclave after all of that!?

But, she couldn't. She couldn't say a single word no matter how much she wanted to. Ever since she'd arrived back at the Citadel, all that she'd been able to do was make a few wind noises with the occasional syllable using her lips. Somehow though, Sarah had managed to piece together enough to know that Raven Rock was destroyed and thankfully had been able to get her back to her room where she had remained until now.

"Let's get out of here. She's not coming out anytime soon at this rate."

As she listened to the harsh echo of their footsteps as the two Initiates walked away from the door to her room, she couldn't help but begin to dig her fingernails into her bare arms. Even if she couldn't talk to them at the moment…why couldn't she just grab that damn notebook from off the floor where she'd dropped it earlier and start scribbling down what she needed to make them believe her?

She felt fresh tears begin to fall down her cheeks and dug her fingernails in deeper and deeper until she could feel the warmth of her own blood slowly trickling down her arms. She didn't care though. All that her mind could focus on was how much she fucking hated being like this.

How she couldn't seem to do anything right. How she couldn't save her dad. How she couldn't save Dogmeat. How she couldn't even scribble on a piece of paper without her hands shaking so bad that she either tore lines across the paper or sent her pencil flying across the room.


	2. Kelly - Help

"You know, when you fuck something up, you really fuck it up."

She grit her teeth at that and glared at Butch standing in the corner of her room. Standing and watching her. For almost four days now, he hadn't left her room except when he managed to piss her off enough to the point where she wanted to grab her pistol and put some rounds through his damn arm so that he'd know what she felt like.

…maybe if she didn't say anything, he'd leave her alone finally.

"Cat got your tongue again?"

Kelly rolled her eyes. Right, like her luck could be that good right now.

"Why can't you just leave me alone, Butch?"

"Because I've seen what happens when you're left alone while you're in pain. It's not a pretty sight."

She knew that he was right, but that didn't mean that she couldn't hate him for saying it—for reminding her. She knew that she had her weak moments, but there was no way in hell that she was going to admit it to him. Yeah, she might have trusted him with her life, but there were lines that she could never cross with him even three years after going back to the vault once she had succeeded in making sure that her dad's dream came true.

"…Butch?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Dr. Li still here?"

"Just outside in that tiny shed that you call a workshop putting the finishing touches on that replacement that you begged her for."

She glared at him at that and slowly got off the bed before making her way towards the door.

"I didn't beg her."

"Whatever you say."

She didn't reply to that though as she navigated her way into the hallway and then out of the house towards the workshop.


	3. Harper - Birthday

Author's Note: TW for mentions of childhood abuse in this chapter.

Harper glanced out the window of their suite inside the Lucky 38 as the first rays of sunlight began to shine from beneath the horizon and sighed. If there was one day in the entire year that they wanted to just be alone, it was today.

"The world won't end if I'm unavailable for one day, right?"

Even as they said that, Harper wasn't sure that they believed it themselves. Regardless though, there was no way in hell that they were planning on being involved in anything today. As far as they were concerned, everything could wait until tomorrow. There was no way that House, the NCR, and Caesar could manage to fuck everything up in twenty-four hours, right? And even if they could, fuck them all.

They slowly made their way to a nearby couch and collapsed on it to watch the sun continue to rise.

"Harper, you awake?"

Damn it.

They glanced over their shoulder at the locked door.

"Yeah, Vee. I'm up. Something wrong?"

"Nope, but it is important!"

Harper sighed. For fuck's sake…

"What is it?"

"You have to unlock the door!"

Harper grit their teeth a little at that. They did _not_ need this today.

"Fine, I'm coming."

As Harper reached the door though, they paused for a moment before finally unlocking the door. They slowly pulled it open and stared at Veronica standing on the other side, cradling _their_ hunting shotgun in her hands. As they continued to stare at the shotgun though, they began to notice details that were different about it.

"Is that a…"

"Yeah. I stopped by Freeside earlier and got the magazine swapped out for a longer tube and even got that choke on there now so that it won't spread as much when you shoot. How do you like it?"

As she asked for their opinion about the modifications, she held the shotgun out to them. They turned it over and studied it for a few moments before slowly smiling a little.

"Thanks Vee, I love it, but…what's the occasion?"

For some reason, Veronica seemed to be surprised at their question.

"It's your birthday, Harper."

"How…how did…"

"From back when we got that fake passport from Mick and Ralph's. I just figured that you were the type to actually put your real info on a fake passport so…"

"Okay, okay…got it, and yeah…you're right. The date that I gave them was my actual birthday and I'd actually like to spend the day by myself, okay Vee?"

Before she could even answer, they gently set the shotgun on a nearby desk and began to head back to the couch hoping that Veronica would pick up on the fact that they _really_ wanted to be alone right now.

"Why?"

Whether she didn't pick up on that fact or just chose to ignore it, Harper didn't know. Regardless, they tried to keep their voice even as they collapsed back onto the couch.

"I just like spending my birthdays by myself."

Harper could hear her footsteps on the wooden boards of the floor as she approached them.

"Harper, that's bullshit. Nobody _likes_ spending their birthday alone unless they prefer the solitude and that's not you. So, what's really going on? Why do you want to be alone today?"

Harper knew that Veronica was only asking because she cared about them. They also knew that even if they explained everything, that there was nothing that she could actually _do_ for them.

"Fine, short version is that I had a shitty childhood and I hate remembering all of it every time my damn birthday comes around, okay?"

They had planned on stopping right there, but their mouth began to ramble as they saw Veronica sit down opposite them on the couch.

"Both of my parents were scavengers, but they couldn't negotiate or intimidate anyone their own size so they had to sneak around to find any pieces of scrap that were worth anything. When they had…when they had me, they were scrounging around for caps in the Old Town district of the Hub. I don't really remember much from my childhood though except for the beatings each time that they'd had a shitty haul from what they'd managed to find that day and the burnings from my mom when she was on a high and thought that I was the cause of their miserable day to day lives. Which I suppose was true to an extent. I mean, if they'd never had me then that would have been extra caps that they could have kept for themselves and maybe wouldn't have been as miserable. That's…fuck…"

Harper cut themselves off right then as they felt warm tears trickling down their face and realized that they were crying in front of Veronica. They were supposed to be stronger than this. They weren't supposed to be crying in front of one of their companions over a shitty childhood that was no worse than probably half of the people currently living in Freeside let alone the rest of the Mojave.

"Harper?"

They snapped their head up at that and saw Veronica trying to smile at them even after what they had just said.

"I don't know if it'll help, but do you want a hug?"

Harper nodded their head and felt her arms around them before they returned the gesture. As they remained in Veronica's arms like that though, Harper's mind knew that the gesture wouldn't do anything to change their situation and their past, but maybe just maybe having Veronica know about it could help keep them steady on their feet for everything to come.


	4. Harper - Panic

Harper slowly took another gulp of whiskey as they listened to Trudy ask Sunny about how her leg was feeling after being bitten by a gecko three days…or was it four days ago now? Harper wasn't sure. What they _did_ know though was that it had happened on the same day that they had arrived back in Goodsprings. They had been greeted with 'how are yous?' and 'how long you planning on stayings?' enough times to be nearly sick of it all, but they should have expected it considering how much they had helped Sunny and everybody against the Powder Gangers last time.

Harper shook their head to try to stop thinking about things only to feel their overgrown bangs annoyingly stab them in the eyes as they did so. They cursed under their breath before downing the last few drops of whiskey from their glass and laying their head down on the bar. They knew that Trudy wouldn't mind if they just rested their head for a few minutes.

"Harper? Sorry, I didn't realize that you were in here."

They slowly raised their head at that only to see Sunny sitting down next to them and tried to give her a shaky smile.

"Hey Sunny."

She gave Harper a nod before Cheyenne made her way over to the bar as well, the sound of her paws on the wooden floor echoing with each step.

"We were all beginning to wonder when you were going to leave that shack and come see us."

"Yeah, sorry. Just needed some time to myself."

Harper felt their voice begin to waver on the final word, but hoped that Sunny didn't catch it.

"It's fine. So, what have you been up to since you left town a while back?"

Harper wanted to laugh at that. What _had_ they been up to? 'Oh, just managed to get a body count somewhere in the upper hundreds and currently being held up by multiple groups right now as being the key to the future of the fucking Mojave'.

"Well, I managed to get my package back and complete that delivery. That's actually pretty much it."

Just as they finished, Harper heard the front door to the saloon open and could see a flicker of short brown hair and an all-too familiar power fist.

"Well, glad to hear that–"

They cut her off right there as they turned to face the woman in the doorway.

"Sorry Sunny, but I've got to go."

With that said, they slowly got up from the bar and began to walk towards the new woman in town.

"Harper, what–"

"Please Vee…don't say anything just yet. I'll explain though. I promise."

Harper hated how their voice sounded right then. Pained. Nearly about to crack. Shaking underneath each word, but they managed to keep it steady long enough for Veronica to get the message. They silently led her back to Victor's shack where they had been staying for the past couple of days and sat down on the bed a few moments before Veronica joined them.

"What happened, Harper? Why'd you just up and disappear like that?"

"I…I…"

Harper paused and glanced down at their shaking hands as they tried to figure out how to explain it.

"I…I…panicked, Vee."

"You…panicked?"

Harper nodded their head before they suddenly broke down crying as all the stress that they had been running from finally hit them.

"I–I couldn't take it, Vee…Caesar thinks that has me exactly where he wants me the NCR thinks that I'm going to help them consolidate their power House thinks that he knows exactly where my loyalties lie and…and…"

Harper paused right there though as they felt Veronica put her arms around them and softly whisper into their ear.

"Harper, shh. It's okay. We're all here for you. Okay, so Cass and the rest of the gang aren't here right now, but you know what I mean."

Harper didn't need to see her face to know that she was smiling a little at her own comment and that helped them to smile too.

"Anyway, I'm not going to tell you that you have to come back to the Strip right now or forcibly drag you like Boone probably would because I reeeeealy don't have the upper body strength to do it so…you stay here as long as you need to until you're ready to head back and I'll stay here with you. How's that sound?"

Harper didn't know if they could actually manage to say anything without their voice collapsing on them so instead, they just simply hugged Veronica back and softly cried into her shoulder–all the while thankful for the one person in the entire Mojave that had always been there for them.


	5. Kelly - Coping

Kelly couldn't stop shaking. She could still feel heart hammering away in her chest. She came out here to get a mine for Moira, not to get _shot_ at by a sniper holed up in what remained of the town.

She tried to remind herself that she was okay now. That she was safe.

It didn't work though.

Instead, all it did was to cause her to burst out laughing at the idea that she could ever be fucking _safe_ again.

Eventually, she felt the laughing finally subside and even with the additional burning in her lungs thanks to her laughter, she forced her body away from the wall. Focus, she told herself. Focus on looking for anything useful around here and then get the hell back to Megaton.

With that, she began to make her way through the house. Most of the house seemed to already be picked clean though. As she passed by the door to one of the bedrooms in the house though, something caught her eye and she went inside to investigate.

"What…the…hell?"

She paused just a few steps into the room when she noticed two used syringes next to the bed and two skeletons on the bed.

As she took a few more steps, she noticed that their hands were entwined and somewhere deep down, she realized what they had done. Slowly, she made her way step by step to the side of the bed and knelt down next to the skeletons.

After a few moments, she noticed wet spots on the sheets and realized that she was crying. Why was she crying? After everything that she had seen already why was this bothering her so much? Why did the sight of two skeletons bother her?

She didn't know. She didn't know. All that she knew was that she was now crying with her face pressed into the grimy sheets to try to muffle the noise.

She wished that she could stop crying, but she couldn't. She couldn't even stop when she heard Dogmeat's paws on the wooden floor followed by what she had already dubbed his 'worried whine'.

A moment later, she felt a weight on her arm and raised her face up to see Dogmeat with his head on her arm, looking at her worried. She tried to say his name, but she couldn't stop crying long enough to even get one syllable out.

She realized quickly though that she didn't need to say anything as Dogmeat rose up and licked the side of her face.

Somehow, she managed a small smile through her cries in response before she wrapped her arms around his body and sobbed into his fur long until after the sun had fallen below the horizon.


End file.
